Alternative Education department receives K2 billion

The Alternative Education Department received about K2 billion for the 2017-2018 fiscal year, to implement the department goal, (Dr) U Khine Mye, Director General for Alternative Education department told The Myanmar Times on June 12.

The Department of Alternative Education was established on October 1 2016 under the Ministry of Education (MOE) and it is a new department emerging during the period of this government.

And the (department) drafted the alternative education policy framework from December 2016 and now the sub sector framework is in process.

“Now we are drafting the sub sector framework. After drawing up the sub sector framework we will present it to the National Education Policy Commission. And then we will draft policy” (Dr) U Khine Mye continued.

The implementation processes will get approval from the National Education Policy Commission. The alternative education policy framework will affect children from migrant areas, conflict areas, working children, street children, children with disabilities, lifelong education for young people and adult literacy.

The department’s literacy campaign covering all townships of Kayah and Southern Shan states in 2016. The campaign reaches out to over 3,500 of people from Kahah and about 20,000 people from Southern Shan State in the literacy movement.

Myanmar has been trying to open up its education system since 2011, making it more accessible to children. But dropout rates among school-going children remain high, according to the Ministry of Education.

According to 2014 census, more than one in five children between the ages of 10 and 17 go to work. There are 2.7 million children from 5 to 16 who do not attend schools and drop-out from school and 3.5 million children over 15 years are illiterate according to the Ministry of Education.